IS’ attempt to recapture Tishrin Dam fails

TISHRIN DAM, Syria (K24) – On Thursday, the U.S.-backed Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) said they have repelled the so-called Islamic State (IS) assault on Tishrin Dam on the Euphrates River in northern Syria.

SDF killed at least 50 IS militants on Thursday while repelling the IS attacks around Tishrin Dam, in addition to the seizure of weapons and military equipment.

Speaking to K24, Sharvan Darwish, an SDF senior military commander, said on Friday, "Clashes erupted yesterday between our forces and the terrorists [of IS] in the surrounding villages and towns of the dam. The next day, our forces expelled the terrorists from the outskirts of the dam and the neighboring hills that the terrorists seized the day before."

"In the clashes, IS killed two and injured two of our fighters, while our forces killed more than 50 terrorists," Darwish added.

SDF said in a statement published on Thursday, "There are ongoing clashes around Tishrin Dam and west of Ain Issa town between our forces and terrorists, and the result so far is that our forces have killed six terrorists west of Ain Issa and 50 terrorists in the villages and hills around the dam."

"The terrorist organization of Islamic State bombed our areas with heavy weapons to demoralize our people and break the power of our fighters, but we were on the lookout for them," the statement read.

Lewand Rojava, a senior officer of SDF, told K24 on Friday, "In the counter-attacks over the past three days, we fought on several fronts west of Ain Issa and west of Tishrin Dam. As a result, we seized the following villages: Kardoshan, Qadria-sheikh, Ali-sheikh, Abu Majed, and Hasodiya."

Last month, the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) conducted the second round of their military operations against IS in Rojava (Syrian Kurdistan), northern Syria, and on December 26 they secured the Tishrin Dam and surrounding areasacross the Euphrates River from IS.

(Redwan Bezar contributed to this report from Tishrin Dam)